Breathe
by Lailuh
Summary: When Peter is injured in an attack, he needs a little assistance from a fellow team member to overcome old repercussions.


**Hellooooo. This is just a quick little thing I put together because my heart can't take the pain. I feel like with all the things that have happened, this is bound to happen at least one time. Hope you like it!**

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The fight was just about over. The question of why aliens always seemed to attack New York ran through Peter's head all the time. Did they see a movie about invading or did the movie copy the events that already happened? He just didn't know.

Everyone had taken and given their fair share of damage to said aliens which had strangely similar features to Bebop and Rocksteady from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Peter had gotten an earful from Tony about pop culture references when he mentioned it. Though everyone was rather grateful because just like in the cartoon, while they were heavy hitters, they were incredibly stupid. That made it wonderfully easy to trap and send them back where they came from. The only real issue was it was taking a long time to do it.

"Why did this have to happen today? I have a physics final tomorrow and need to finish my calculus homework." Peter complained as he swung through the air.

" _You left without finishing your homework again?"_ Tony's voice rang through his comm.

"Come on Mr. Stark. You can't expect me to sit about doing homework while there's a literal alien invasion going on."

" _Give the kid a break Stark. I'm sure the world perishing is a lot worse than not getting perfect marks."_ Steve said.

"It'll be fine. I could finish it in li-" Peter's sentence was interrupted as an alien rammed into him, both of them through a wall and into an empty parking garage. " _Ow_ , that's definitely gonna bruise."

" _It wouldn't have happened if you were doing your homework."_

Peter rolled his eyes at the man's words and slight laughs that were coming through the comm. He got himself upright and ready to face the beasts that were there, only, he found himself alone.

"Okay, that's weird." There was a sudden rumble and the ground shook. "Uh, someone _please_ tell me that was just Dr. Banner doing his thing." Another rumble shook the building and bits of the upper levels began crumbling. _"Oh shit."_

It was then that he began running to the hole that was first made but pieces of concrete and debris had fallen in his way. It was mere seconds before the structure came down on him.

The group of heroes watched the thing go down.

"I sure hope they don't expect us to pay for any cars that were in there because it most certainly wasn't our fault this time." Ironman said as he blasted a few aliens through a portal.

" _Wait, do we normally pay for damages cause by aliens from outer space?"_ Hawkeye asked. _"Was that in the fine print when we signed?"_

" _Relax Clint. If anything Tony's the one who has to pay."_ Natasha said.

"Don't worry, I'm sure everything gets credited to Fury. Remind me to send him a fruit basket or something."

It wasn't long after that that the aliens had been taken care of. The damage was minimal in comparison to most other battles they'd fought; a few cars dented or blow up, holes through a few buildings with the parking garage being the only thing that collapsed. All in all, not as bad as it could've been.

"Okay you guys wanna get hot dogs? There's a guy that's usually a few blocks over with the best in the city." Tony said as they all grouped up near the fallen parking structure.

"What's with you and ending a fight with food?" Steve asked.

"What's with you _not_ ending a fight with food? Are you not starving after that? I'm sure the kid's stomach is probably eating itself right about now."

"Speaking of which, where is he?" Natasha voiced as she noticed the youngest nowhere to be seen. The group looked around the general area, a feeling of dread falling over them when they didn't see him swing into view.

"FRIDAY give me the location of his tracker." Tony pulled a map up on his gauntlet. Everyone was surprised when they saw a red point on the map right next to them. They all took a look around again but the boy still wasn't in sight.

It was when Clint looked to the pile of rumble that he understood. " _Oh no."_

Banner, still as the Hulk, immediately ran and started digging through the debris. Everyone followed. After a few minutes they were rewarded, though the condition they found him in was anything but. His left leg was wedged between two pieces of rubble and the entirety of his torso was under a large slab. His arms had been cover his neck and head for the most part. Everyone hoped there would be no long last damage. They carefully got the rubble off him, Nat talking to Hulk to get him to let Bruce have control to have him look the kid over.

 _Come on kid._ Tony thought as he slowly picked him up and carried him to the flat of the street. He stripped off the mask, sucking in a breath as he saw blood streaming from his temple and bruises that had formed."Karen give me vitals."

" _Vertical crack in tibia and femur in the left leg, multiple contusions across the majority of his body alone with small lacerations. Right shoulder has been dislocated and wrist has been sprained; a non life threatening hit to the head is most likely what has caused him to lose consciousness. No detection of any punctures or internal bleeding."_

The tension leases ever so slightly when hearing the news but him being unconscious was enough to keep the worry. He almost certainly had a concussion and they needed to wake him.

"Let's- get him on the ship so we can get back." Steve broke the silence that they had dropped into. "We need to brace his leg and brace his wrist."

"We should reset his shoulder while he's still out." Bruce's voice broke through. He was standing at the back with Natasha. "It'll be easier, and hopefully he won't feel the immediate impact from it."

Tony nodded and laid him down as gently as he could and braced his hands on either side of his shoulder. _Sorry kid._ In a swift motion Peter's shoulder popped back into place, and his eyes shot open. No one had seen him move so fast.

He was on his feet in a second looking around to find what had injured him, before stumbling from his practically broken and falling into Steve who caught and held him up.

"Hey, hey, hey son. Easy. You're among friends."

Peter quickly looked around at the five familiar faces and began to calm down. "Did- did we win? Are the aliens gone?"

Clint snorted in amusement. "Yeah kid. Aliens have been dealt with."

He sighed with relief and leaned more on Steve. "Thank god. Those things _really_ hurt when they hit you. It feels like a building collapsed on me."

The group was silent for a moment. "Peter, a building _did_ collapse on you."

Peter saw Nat gesture behind him and glanced back; low and behold there was a pile of concrete where the parking structure used to be. He turned back to everyone and nodded. "Okay. That explains it, mainly the leg pain… and the arm pain, probably the head pain too. Yeah I'm just gonna say it explains everything."

Small snickers were heard.

"All right I think it's time to get back." Tony said. "I don't want to be here when Fury gets the bill for the damages."

 **AVENGERS**

It had been three days since the battle. Peter had been under strict instructions from Bruce not to move so the bones in his legs could heal. While he had some objections, he followed the rules Bruce had put in place for him and only really got out of bed to use the restroom. His shoulder still has a twinge to it when he moved but he was told it was expected after it had been dislocated; his wrist had been wrapped to the point where he couldn't exactly move it but could still pick up things if needs be. His leg was a bit more difficult to handle. Like his wrist, it was wrapped to the point where it was extremely difficult to use but given it was almost broken, he could expect it.

That night he had been reclining on his bed doing his calculus per Tony's request even though the school would be closed for a while after the attack. There was a sudden bang from somewhere that made him jump and he brushed it off as a door slamming. But it became tremendously difficult to concentrate on the work after that. He began to hear sounds: thudding across the ground, something being smashed, iron bending, and concrete breaking and it became unbearably difficult to breathe. His mind began flooding with images, or there lack of, pitch black and grey shadows swirling in front of his eyes and an insufferable amount of pain go across his person.

He felt like he was being crushed.

He swept his arm to the table next to his bed in an attempt to help get out of bed, only he ended knocking a mug off, shattering as both it and he fell to the floor. The feeling of anxiety and fear was overwhelming that tears started to prick at his eyes and the sounds were pounding so loud his hands went to his ears to try and stop them. It was after a moment that light flooded his vision and a voice called out to him.

"-id! Kid! What's wrong?! Peter!"

"C-can't b-reathe."

He was hoisted into a sitting position and had his back braces against their chest. "Feel my chest; feel my heart beat. Breathe with me; long, deep breathes. In for ten counts, then out for ten counts."

Peter sucked in a deep breath.

"That's it. Slow, deep breathes. In for ten counts, hold it, then out for ten counts. Good, good. Just keep breathing with me. You're in good hands kid."

He didn't know how long they sat there. They didn't move from their spot until his breathing and heart rate had calmed. When they did, he took his hands from his ears, only hearing the white noise from his computer.

"You all right?" At the nod, he maneuvered Peter so he was sitting on the edge of his bed.

"Thank you, Mr. Stark." He wipes the tears from his face, his voice just above a whisper. "What, what was that?"

"You had a panic attack." Tony answered softly.

"Wh- why?"

"You were trapped under a building kid. That's a good of a reason for _any_ sort of repercussion."

Peter knitted his brow. "But- it didn't happen the first time…"

"It probably happened because it _didn't_ happen the first time." Tony rubbed the back of his head. "You weren't unconscious the first time it happened and were able to get yourself out of it, but this time you very well might have died if we didn't find you. That alone plus any additional stress or anxiousness you might have been feeling was most likely the cause of it."

He slowly nodded. "Will it happen again?"

"It might, and before you say it, don't be sorry about it. It's a natural thing that happens that we have little to no control over. Hell we all get them and have different ways of dealing with them."

"Thank you."

"Don't sweat it kid. You're gonna feel more tired than you usually do for a few days after so you need to eat and sleep a lot. How bout it? Up for some of Clint's pot roast?" Tony flashed his trademark grin.

Peter smiled back. "Always."

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 **I hope everyone enjoyed this. First time attempting an Avengers story so I hope it turned out all right. I've had to help people with panic attacks and that's the method I use to help them get through it. Please leave a review if you enjoyed and if you didn't, leave a review anyways and help me better myself!**

 **Hope you liked it! See ya later!**


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